Iowa Cattle Farmers Prepare Animals for Extreme Cold

ADEL, Iowa -- Iowa farmers say the frigid temperatures does take a toll on them and their farm animals, but proper care makes all the difference.

Iowa cattle farmer Rod Collins said his family spent the day preparing for the temperatures to drop even further.

“The tractors have heat and we can get inside the shop here and get warmed up a little bit but you just have to deal with it,” Collins said.

While they are bundling up in layers, they are layering on the hay and food for about 150 cows on their farm.

“They take a lot more energy just to keep warm. And to keep that body temperature up, they have to have a lot more food just to keep them going,” Collins said.

He said it’s even more important to keep them out of the wind.

“They’ll huddle up. They’ll get next to one another. They’ve got lots of hair. We try to keep them clean. You know, the muddy weather that we had earlier, that makes them colder if they freeze mud on them or anything. So if we can keep cattle clean and in a dry place and out of the wind they can handle the mother nature pretty good,” Collins said.

Mike Telford, with Iowa Farm Animal Care, said a barn and plenty of food and water makes all the difference.

“And you could tell even with the cattle out here in the lot even as cold as it is with the sun going down, they were really pretty comfortable. They were enjoying their dinner so to speak and they were very social and moving around really good. So that goes to show you when you take care of them even in these extreme temperatures they will do fine,” Telford said.

If you have questions about farm animal care or are concerned about a group of farm animals you can call the Iowa Farm Animal Care helpline at 1-800-252-0577.